Board Won't Reduce Jail Term

Board Won't Reduce Convict's Jail Term

Inmate Counsels Addicts, Teaches Religion

November 04, 1992|By LYNNE TUOHY; Courant Staff Writer

Henry Price, a former career criminal who is now a drug counselor and inspiration to thousands of hard-core convicts, has been denied the additional reduction in his prison sentence that would have allowed him to live in the community where he spends 12 hours a day.

Price's petition for a five-year reduction in his sentence fell one vote short of the four it needed to succeed before the state Board of Pardons this week. Three members voted in favor of Price's petition, one opposed it and one abstained.

"Life goes on, that's for sure," Price said Tuesday. "I still have to do what I have to do. But it's a setback."

Price was serving a 40-year sentence for the 1982 robbery and murder of another drug dealer when the pardons board reduced his sentence by 10 years in May 1991.

That reduction permitted his transfer from the maximum security prison in Somers to the Morgan Street detention center in his hometown of Hartford. His security classification was lowered and Price was allowed to leave the jail, which he does often for 12 hours at a stretch, to study and teach religion and to counsel drug addicts at the BlueRidge treatment center on Blue Hills Avenue.

But with the exception of a social furlough every other weekend, Price sleeps behind bars. He usually cannot be released to attend school and participate in community service programs until after 11 a.m., which restricts his ability to get a paying job.

Price returned to Somers prison Monday to ask the pardons board for a five-year reduction, which would make him eligible for work-release. Nattily dressed, with state Sen. Frank D. Barrows, D-Hartford, at his side, Price made a strong case for further consideration.

"I'm not saying I deserve anything," said Price, 42. "I'm grateful for what I've received so far. I'm here asking for mercy.

"I am productive. I don't have to use people and manipulate people the way I did for 22 years," said Price, who is a popular

speaker at urban high schools and juvenile detention centers. He told the board there is a selfish element to his work.

"A lot of what I say I need to hear for myself," Price told the board. "I can't forget where I came from. I can't afford to forget."

Price said that although he has done much for the people he counsels, he has not been able to contribute to the upkeep of his own home and ease the burden on his working wife. "Everybody gets a little piece of me but her."

Barrows said he met Price at Somers when the senator spoke there. It was Price who quieted several hecklers in the audience. Now Price works for Barrows part-time to develop anti-drug and anti-gun programs.

Barrows told the board that Hartford State's Attorney John Bailey greeted him by saying he should be out campaigning.

"He's right. My job is on the line," said Barrows, of his bid for re-election. "But his life is on the line, and that's important. He does what many of our leaders are not doing."

Bailey said his office had anguished over Price's case and his request for a further sentence reduction. But Bailey came as close as a prosecutor can Monday to testifying on a convicted killer's behalf.

"He is probably the only person I have seen in my 17 years [as a prosecutor] who has turned his life around," Bailey said. "He has not only changed his life, but he has gone back into the community to save other lives. This man should be given any consideration possible."

State Supreme Court Justice Flemming Norcott Jr. of New Haven, who sits on the pardons board, appeared impressed with Price's work, but later abstained from voting on his petition.

"I hope when you get out you contact me," Norcott told Price during the hearing. "Our young people need to hear your story, too.